Berkley rubbed his eyes. Parker had chosen to call just when he had drifted off to sleep and it took all his willpower to keep from screaming. His only day off that week and his sleep had been interrupted. Rose flopped back onto the pillow and sighed. Sleep was now out of the question.
Would, could, should. The phone call had brought those three words to the front of his mind. Should dump Parker. Could dump Parker. Wouldn't dump Parker.
Three words that brought up a load of questions. He could dump Parker, simply because the man meant nothing to him. He was excess and Berkley rarely put up with excess. He should dump Parker because he was a subordinate and screwing subordinates was a definite no-no.
But he wouldn't dump Parker. Growling to himself, Berkley pushed himself up from the bed and lurched to the bathroom. A hot shower, a distraction, was beginning to sound good.
The hot water coursed down his back, easing his muscles but not his mind. Berkley slathered some shampoo and didn't curse when it got in his eyes. Most people were slaves to their bodies and would have taken a cold shower and cursed. Berkley was not like most people.
Stepping out of the shower, the Commissioner glanced at the clock. It was ten p.m. Outside, the city had just begun partying. He could hear the Bohemians upstairs start their wild, thumping music making coupled with the occasional stomps of the drag queen's dancing, heeled feet. He knew from experience it would be futile to ask them to keep the noise down. He also knew, again from experience, they would be partying all night.
Too many damn Bohemians in this city. And they were all noisy.
Noisy.
It had been noisy in the bar where he'd picked up Parker. They had both been on the rebound. He really shouldn't have brought the other man back to his apartment.
But then, Diana shouldn't have cheated on him. And Ryo shouldn't have chosen the uncouth animal he's with now. And what's-her-face shouldn't have broken up with Parker. However, there wasn't much to be done about any of that and it didn't make any sense to dwell on it.
Sense.
He could do what was sensible. Logical. He'd been brought up to be logical. He could make decisions that made sense and were best for all involved. He could do that; that's why he was Commissioner. He could easily dump Parker and go back on the rebound. The affair had been a mistake anyway and the only reason they kept it up was for the substitute sex and companionship.
Of course, that was also the reason Rose wouldn't dump Drake. If he was to be completely honest with himself, he would have to admit that the main reason he kept the detective around was because he was lonely.
'If' being the operative word in that sentence.
It was going to be a long, painful night. That was the one sentence that kept floating through Drake's mind as he watched J.J. paint Marie Finer's nails a vivid hot pink. The smaller detective was not often flamboyant, but when he was…Drake excused himself to get a drink of water.
The kitchen smelled like cherry pie, lasagna, and spinach casserole. The neighbors had responded quickly to the attack with an outpouring of love and food. Along with the food, it had also produced an elderly matron to stay the night. The old lady had insisted that Marie be given police protection for at least a night and had then insisted that she herself stay, because two men could not stay the night with a woman unsupervised. She had left and came back ten minutes later with a small, worn out suitcase packed with an old flannel nightgown and numerous incidentals. She was currently passed out on the couch after having spent the last hour giving J.J. strange looks.
Thank God he only had to play bodyguard for this one night. Tomorrow, it would be back to work, back to screwing the Commissioner, back to arguing with the credit card company that had called that morning. Maybe he'd pick up a six pack on the way home in the morning…
"Officer?" He almost dropped the glass at the sound of her voice. Turning around, Drake tried to hide his embarrassment at being caught day dreaming.
"Ms. Finer? Eh…heh heh, uh, what I do for you?" He was sure he was blushing. Damn. Detectives in the movies never blushed when damsels in distress talked to them.
"Um," She blushed too. "I just wanted to thank you for staying with me. I'm sure you have a family you wanted to see tonight."
"Nope! No family!" Drake forced a smile.
"A girlfriend then."
"Ah…no girlfriend." Please don't say boyfriend, please don't say boyfriend, please don't say boyfriend….
"Well, I'm sure you had something better to do than spend the night with me. So thank you." She smiled.
"No, no problem." Drake stuttered out, silently damning himself for being this uncool in front a woman. He was willing to bet what little was in his bank account that Dee never stuttered or made an idiot of himself.
Marie leaned over and kissed him.
On his mouth.
Kissed him.
Author's notes- Cliffhangers are my new best friends. Say hello to Mr. Cliffhanger. And no, Marie Finer is not a slut. She was just attacked by a serial rapist while going through a divorce. Sucks to be her so she's looking for a way to make herself feel better.
Just a note on J.J., he doesn't really act flamboyant in the series but he is hyper enough that it's easy to imagine him sitting down to do his toenails and watch 'Will & Grace'. At least to me. I dunno 'bout the rest of you.